My Train 18: Story - 29 Aug 2022

AUG

29 2022

"MY TRAIN 18 STORY" MONDAY, 6:30 PM - 7:45 PM MMA MANAGEMENT CENTER, CHENNAI

CLICK TO JOIN SUDHANSHU MANI

MUTHUKUMAR THANU

INDRA PREM MENON

M KESHAV

CREATOR OF TRAIN 18 AUTHOR

TAFE

SENAPATHY WHITELEY GROUP

MANTRA

PROF V KAMAKOTI IIT MADRAS

A team of railwaymen from Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Indian Railways (IR), Chennai, manufactured Train 18 in 2018; India’s first semi-high-speed train set, now in service as the much-talked-about Vande Bharat Express. This team had put together, from conception to design to engineering to manufacture, and finally roll out a modern train in just 18 months. This is against the world standard of a minimum of 36 months from the drawing board to prototype, at less than half of the estimated price for import. The book is all about this journey, as the author, who was posted in 2016 at ICF as GM, led this team right through the project. What makes the project invaluable is that it was executed without any Transfer of Technology (ToT) from a global train manufacturer, with the IPR proudly owned by ICF.

SYNOPSIS

This train set was a long time coming. India needed a modern train set for decades but the bureaucracy of IR had repeatedly let the country down, immersed as it was in internecine battles and venal intentions to import. The author had always dreamt of a modern and fast train, with pleasing interiors and exteriors, for India. Once at ICF, he had the dream, the vision, the opportunity, and as time would tell him, the good fortune to realize his dream.

Fortune? Yes! because the capability and the chutzpah to take up a project of a new train design and manufacture de novo already existed among the ICF railwaymen and the support industries in India. All it required was a friendly but meaningful nudge to excel.

The author first started to transform ICF in all fields. What spurred the process was openness, empathy, welcoming ideation, recognition for those who worked, discarding all stifling feudal protocols, and coming down hard on the shirkers. It is not a surprise that ICF soon started breaking new grounds and it was transformed to become a leader, not only in production figures but also in many other aspects. The Train 18 story is the most important part, but certainly not the only one, of this journey of transformation. It was the tour de force. To cut a long story short, Train 18 finally became a reality in October 2018, a fruit of success, realized after an intense adventure of 18 heady months.

It was a mere train but it was welcomed with unprecedented excitement and kudos not just by railwaymen and rail enthusiasts but by the public at large.

Why? Because it worked like a stimulator, an exemplar, an icon for the restless minds of the nation, both young and old, to try and replicate similar projects.

The author started writing this book after his retirement not only to recount those amazing days but also to make sure that the heroes of this novel endeavour did not go unknown and unsung. Through this book he serves the larger purpose to convey that a thousand such projects could bloom in our country; all it needs is courage, passion, sense of purpose, and resolve in leadership.

5:45 PM

Registration & High Tea

6:30 PM

Welcome Address

Gp Capt R Vijayakumar (Retd), VSM Executive Director, Madras Management Association

PROGRAMME

Launch of the book “My Train 18 Story” Overview

Ms Vidya Ragu Founder Himalayacalling & Skillsgurucool

Keynote Address Mr Muthukumar Thanu President and Group CHRO, Tractors and Farm Equipment Ltd (TAFE) Mrs Indra Prem Menon Chairman and Managing Director Senapathy Whiteley Group of Companies Prof V Kamakoti Director, IIT Madras

Q&A with the Author

Mr Sudhanshu Mani Retd. General Manager, ICF and Creator of Train 18

7:45 PM

Vote of Thanks

Mr M Keshav Founder-CEO, MANTRA Dr Sathya Prasad Mangalaramanan Senior Executive, Ashok Leyland

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